Mr Anthony

Good evening to you all, I've got a question, and it's mainly for other users of this amp, but feel to to chip in if you have an answer. I guess it's an open question really, might not have an answer, I don't know. But, whenever I use headphones with this amp, the sound feels fake. Almost as if it's far too processed. Even with the EQ flat, all the bonus effects turned off and the EQ on my bass off too. I don't have a cabinet here at uni with me, and the last time I really got to use this amp properly was before Christmas in an old 2x15 cab up in the studio. I can't work out if it's me, the headphones, or the cabinet simulation the amp supposedly has. It's bugging me, because it's making me think I want a different amp. Has anyone else experienced this? It's really hard to explain what it actually sounds like, but it just doesn't sound how I feel like an amp should. Cheers, - Anthony.

Photoshopped out for whatever purposes? No idea really.

I'm really not the person to ask, KiOgon supplied the all the wiring and pots, I just mounted it and screwed in the pickups. It works great through, and there's hardly any noise at all. I'm in two minds whether to bother shielding the entire cavity or not, I'll see how it is once it's actually got some strings on it and go from there I guess.

Ah cool, nice one! Cheers for the info. I'll look it up. Seems like it went really well for you, so nice job!

Don't get me wrong, I do like the blue. I just can't see myself getting along with it forever. Not unless I swapped out the pickguard, which would be a lot easier than painting I guess. But, I definitely want to try my hand at a refinish, plus it'll keep me occupied over Easter. All I'm really doing is putting together my ideal looking, and sounding bass. Would I prefer a genuine Fender? Probably, yes. But a genuine fender with the same hardware I'm using would definitely cost more in the end I reckon. I'm really happy with the SPB-3, from the reviews I've read, and the demos I've seen it sounds great. I've held my other bass next to itto test if it actually picks up the strings, and it does. But since I can't really properly test it yet, I'm yet to find out if I actually like it. Fortunately, I've got gigs lined up for the next month or so, so I'll be able to properly roadtest the bass overall, and with a bit of luck, I'm onto a winner here.0 I jsut really hope I can get the bloody machine heads fitted soon so I can test this thing, haha!

That looks absolutely great! Nice one. Much better than how it looked before What did you use to paint it, if you don't mind me asking?

I now have the final parts for this bass! Hooray! Got the tuners and strings earlier this week, sadly I can't mount them here mainly because the ferrules are too big for the holes, so I'll need to sand or file them out a little for them to go in. It's not that they're just tight, because I can't even push them in with my thumb and I don't particularly fancy splitting the headstock. So I'll sort them in the next week or so. The strings are a first for me, but I can't imagine that I'll have any difficulty getting on with them. I'll have a functioning bass soon, I'm sure of it! Cheers! - Anthony.

Hi there! So I play bass for a band called The Empires, yes the guitarist and drummer love Star Wars. The current members, Lee - guitar/vocals, Jack - drums/vocals, and me, Anthony - bass/vocals, have been togehter for over a year now. We've got a handful of gigs under our belts and it's been high time that we actual made some recordings. Since I have near unlimited access to a recording studio here at Lincoln university, I jumped on the chance to record this EP with a friend of mine. I've just finished all of the mixing this evening, and whilst it's a little rough, I think it's turned out pretty good. Mixing isn't really my forte, more the writing and playing. Anyway, if you're interested, you can have a free copy, just follow this link to Google Drive, and download it - [url="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By2rXdl2xorRbXNfWVRFTzFQMGs"]https://docs.google....bXNfWVRFTzFQMGs[/url] Who doesn't like free music? If you don't want to download it, not a problem, head to our soundcloud page and listen there. We like bands such as Alkaline Trio, Brand New, The Gaslight Anthem, Bruce Springsteen, Coheed & Cambria, and many more, so there's no real genre which we stick to so I'm placing us in the Alt. Rock genre. Thanks guys! Enjoy! We’re on Twitter - [url="https://twitter.com/TheEmpires_Band"]https://twitter.com/TheEmpires_Band[/url] We’re on Facebook - [url="https://www.facebook.com/theempiresband1"]https://www.facebook...theempiresband1[/url] We’re on SoundCloud - [url="https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Ftheempires_band&h=eAQEaIKmG&s=1"]https://soundcloud.com/theempires_band[/url] We’re on YouTube - [url="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1QLdmrAdmGJIYhi3D6_acA"]http://www.youtube.c...dmGJIYhi3D6_acA[/url]

If Vintage White is allowed, count me in. Although granted It looks almost yellow, but that's a fair bit down the the lighting in my room, honest! Tokai TB48 - Only just getting used to it, but I'm rather liking it so far. Always fancied a Thunderbird style bass, and finally got one the other week!

I suppose that's a fair point. I'm pretty much settled with the weight and feel now. New strings are still needed, and I fetched myself a set of strap locks when I visited home last week. Only problem is the screws are too small for the current holes and the current screws are too large for the strap locks. So, I'm probably going to have to plug and drill new ones out which is absolutely fine.

Goodness me, this is looking absolutely incredible.

Cheers guys! Glad you like it. I'm really quite grateful for the 5 years of compulsory design & technology I had to do at school, two of them were straight electronics, but there was still a good handful of woodwork and basic tool use. They don't do that in schools anymore, or at least not in the one I went to. And it's a shame, because without what I learned from those lessons, (and my dad's help), there's no way I would have been able to put this together. Anyway, in terms of finish, I'll be going for a solid white, the wood underneath doesnt seem particularly pleasing, and I know it's in at least two or three pieces as you can see joins which just don't match in the neck pocket.

Ooh, I like it. Doesn't look as though it'd be too big or intrusive either.

Thank you both for the suggestions, but the reason I went for gold is becasue I want to paint the body white, so it looks like the '57 that I saw. And, since I can't afford it, I'm replicating it. So, that is the plan - paint it white. I've had the whole weekend to contemplate it, and I have made up my mind that I want to paint it white. However! Since that's a few weeks away yet, here's an update as to what I actually did this weekend. I've put the bass together, apart from tuners and strings which are now on the way. Got some Wilkinson tuners and a set of Ernie Ball regular slinky strings to try out which I'm looking forward to. It didn't take half as much time to pput together as I had expected, and thankfully, we actually do have a drill press at home. It's a bit old and battered and has never, ever been used, so I was a little skeptical, but it did the job just fine and I'm very pleased. I just had nightmare images of ruining the neck, which would not have been good at all. But, it's on now and it's holding very well indeed. I decided (rather foolishly) that the first job would be to fit the bridge, which turned out to be a little nightmare in itself. The Babicz is great, I really like it. It looks incredible and should really help the sound of the instrument (or so I'm told), but fitting it was just stupid. Partly because of a mistake on my part, and partly becasue the screws that are included are ever so brittle so out of the six you're given I've managed to strip the heads of three of them. They're in now, and with a much large screwdriver I can get them in and out, but I was really expecting them to just go stright in. Turns out that the holes in my body just weren't wide enough for the screws to go in smoothly. So I had to drill the holes out with a wider bit, and then the screws went in easier, whilst still biting into the wood nicely. I don't know if you can make out the damage to the screws in those photos, the camera on my iPhone isn't all it's cracked up to be unfortunately. It was pointless fitting the bridge anyway without have the electronics in since I needed to put the ground wire in, so I only had to remove it later anyway. Oops! Anyway, the next job on my list was to plug up all of the old pickguard holes, which was the last thing I did on the Friday night as I had to wait for the wood glue to dry. I got some toothpicks, which were pretty thick actually, placed as many of them in the hold as I could and then glued them in place. I cut them off the next morning, and used a craft knife to get them level. Not really bothering to protect the finish since it's going anyway. Having flattened the toothpicks, I had to get the neck mounted before I could mark holes for the neck pickguard holes otherwise it would have lined up. As I mentioned, mounting the neck was probably the scariest part. I enlisted the help of my dad here as he took a small drill bit, and marked the holes in the heel of the neck going through the body. We then went out to the drill press, and whilst I held the neck steady he drilled out the holes for the screws using the press. Okay, this was a bad idea. I know that now. Whilst the holes are straight, one of them was off ever so slightly, so that when lined up with the body, only half the hole was showing. I tightened the screws on the other three holes first, and then screwed in the last on, [i]praying[/i] it would still go in without causing any problems, and fortunately, it went in just fine and the neck is as strong and as sturdy as any I've ever held. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the process, but it'd probably have you all cringing as much as I was during. As you can see, the top right isn't quite sitting in the plate, but it's in, and it's holding. So that's all that matters. The next job, line up the pickguard, mark the new holes, drill them out (again using a smaller bit that the screw), and then screw the guard in place. This was nice and simple to do, and it's lined up quite nicely actually! Here we go, not a bad job if I say so myself. Yes, there is a missing screw. There is no wood at all under that hole, so I've just glued on in with Loctite, otherwise it'd look daft! So after all of that difficult jobs were out of the way, all I had to do was take the bridge off, get the ground wire in place, screw in the pickups and wire them up. This involved no solder whatsoever, thank you KiOgon! I gave everything a quick polish, left my Dunlop 65 at uni, so Pledge was the only thing on hand but it worked fine. After that, attached all the parts of the bridge back together, the Babicz is quite fiddly, and for those of us with larger hands it's a little bit awkward since it isn't very magnetic! I then screwed the pickguard back down, which wasn't without it's difficulties, because the pickup casings didn't fit through the holes. They were lined up, but too tight. So I had to file away some of the aluminium, which was not pleasant, and then they went through much easier. Now it's all together, and as far as I can tell there pickups are working because they make a thud noise when I tap them. Plugged in of course. Anyway, here is the finished (for now) product! The blue is nice, but not with the gold. So the blue will go, the main thing for now is just to complete the build and get it working. But, that's probably it for a couple of weeks since I'll not be able to attach the tuners without drilling holes for them, meaning I need to go home again, which will likely be at the Easter break now. So enjoy! Thanks for looking! - Anthony.

I'm yet to really have a proper go with it, but I need to get my amp set up and find a time when I can really have a play. I'll hopefully get some new strings sorted soon, give the fretboard a proper scrub and away we go. Should feel great! It feels solid as a rock though, had to adjust the bridge as it had become raised from the body, so it's screwed back down now but apart from that it's just about spot on.

That looks absolutely gorgeous.

I've always wondered what it must be like to play something like this. I'll have to give it a go some day. Congratulations on the new bass day! Enjoy!

So, I've done it! It's built. Apart from tuners, but they're on the way and I should be able to fit them whilst back at uni. Can't get you any pictures right now, so I'll have a proper update posted some tike on Monday. Cheers guys!

Don't worry, I know exactly what you mean! The bridge looks great, and has a fairly decent weight to it too. As for the tuners, I'm after something in chrome. That way they'll match the bridge, control knobs and the strap locks. So, umm... Yeah. This happened. Got a note from the post room saying I had a parcel to sign for, and behold, it's the neck! It is brand new, but it's had a Fender logo applied to it, which I don't really mind. It's a perfect fit, well, maybe half a millimetre off. But once it's bolted in place, that won't be a problem. I've read about some people get Might Mite necks and the frets needing filing, but they absolutely fine on this one. And from what I can tell, it's a really comfortable neck too. Not as wide or thick as my Thunderbird, but wider than the Jazz style neck on my DeArmond. Also, as far as I can tell it's all one piece too. I was expecting another piece of maple applied to the top, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, it looks great and it feels great. I'll be taking it home this weekend and getting everything bolted together. Exciting! I think I'll be taking all of the pieces I have so far back with me, that way (hopefully) I can come back with a pretty much finished bass. It'll just be easier when I have access to proper tools, rather than a couple of allen keys, and a cheap screwdriver set from Wilko. Ha! Anyway, enjoy! I know I am

I too am intersted in the answer to this as I have done exactly the same. However there were no previous tuners with mine.

That grain is absolutely incredible.

Most shiney indeed! Took another delivery yesterday, and I now have all the parts apart from the neck and tuners. Isn't this exciting! Here's a very basic mock up without faffing with all the wires. I'll admit, I'm starting to like the colour... So for now I just want to get it put together, set up and working, and I'll worry about the paint at a later stage. I'm hopefully getting home this weekend, so if I get the neck delivered in time I'll take it with me and try and get the holes drilled. Which reminds me, the pickguard doesn't match up, pretty much anywhere. I was well aware the pickguard has 10 holes, not 13, which is fine. I just didn't think all of the holes would be as off as they are. So, once I've got the neck in place I'll mark new holes for the pickguard, plug the old ones and drill new ones. Then I can start putting it all together. Hooray! Cheers!

Aww, well that sounds terrible. What a fool. I've nothing against a nice relic'd finish, but a belt sander? Really? Ugh.

I know. Even more awkward since I don't drive and had to carry across town in a large plastic bag. I'll invest in a proper bag before taking it anywhere else. However, yes. I should certainly imagine that the sound of those two combined more than makes up for it!

I haven't had a new bass day in three years, it's great! Haha. I'm adjusting to the weight and the thickness, and it's not as bad as I thought. Just need to find a bag or case big enough now because none of the ones I own are big enough. Oops.